Question

What kinds of fire extinguishers are most often used for extinguishing an electrical fire.

Answer 1

Based on the agent that fuels the fire, a different approach is required to handle the fires. The different agents that can cause the fire are paper, wood, flammable liquids, oil, gasses, or paints.

Complete step by step answer:
Based on the different agents causing the fire, we can classify the fire in six categories that are:
Class A: They involve ordinary combustible items such as paper or wood
Class B: They involve flammable liquids and gasses
Class C: It involves energized electrical equipment and Class C fires initiate other class of Fires
Class D: It involved metals
Class F: Involves cooking oil or fat.
Based on the different fires, we have different types of fire extinguishers:
Water & Foam based: These are useful in class A fires.
Carbon dioxide-based: They are useful in class B and C fires.
Dry Chemical: These are multipurpose and can be used for Class A, B, and C fires.
Wet Chemical: These are good for fires started by oils and fats.
Hence we can use Carbon Dioxide and dry chemical-based fire extinguishers for handling electric fires. For the case using carbon dioxide-based extinguishers, they suppress the fire by removing oxygen, and also dry chemical based extinguishers suppress fires by removing the chemical reaction that causes the fire

Note:
We need to use the right type of extinguisher for the fire as using an incompatible type of extinguisher can degrade the situation instead of improving the same and can make the conditions dangerous.